Meant to Be not a Valentine!

I am really loving this heart set.  I don't usually purchase Valentine stamp sets but I made an exception for this one because I just love the Be Mine Stitched Framelits.  I wanted to show you that this set is not just for Valentine cards.  This card can be for an anniversary, birthday, thinking of you, etc.

The card is Coastal Cabana with mat card stock in Lemon Lime Twist and Granny Apple Green.  I love this color combo!  I went through my stash of Designer paper - believe me, that took a while since I have too much!!  But, I found this piece that I think was a Sale-a-Bration DSP last year and used it across the card.  The cute scallop strips at the top and bottom are from a die in the Be Mine Stitched framelits. I stamped the heart and sentiment in Melon Mambo.  I die cut a heart from Vellum to soften the Coastal Cabana dotted heart.

What do you do with all your Designer Paper scraps?  Toss them, store them, use them???  I decided last year that I had too much and I was always searching for a certain color and taking forever to find it.  So, I cut almost all of my DSP into 6x6 squares and threw away the tiny pieces that I had been holding onto.  I put them in some sturdy plastic bags (14"x14" that I think I got from Amazon) and separated them into color groups (blue, pink/purple, green, yellow/orange, etc.)  The hard part is deciding which side you want to use - for instance in my green bag, one side of the paper is green and the other is blue.  I just picked the side I thought I would use the most.  Now at least when I am looking for a piece of DSP to match what I am making, I can limit my search!

Hoppy Together (Sale-a-Bration stamp)

I think frogs are so cute!  Well, at least the ones that come on stamps!   I'm also in love with gingham and love the 6x6 Gingham Designer Paper.  This is one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets - Hoppy Together. 

I used the Corrugated 3D Dynamic Embossing Folder on the Calypso Coral card stock.  The gingham pieces are cut at 1 1/2" x 4 3/4".  I matted the cute frog onto Highland Heather card stock.  I colored Mr. Frog with my Stampin' Blends.  I used the 1" Circle Punch for the sentiment and matted it with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch.

We have been having wonderful weather this week!  We set a record low this morning and a record high in the afternoon.  But I fear that is coming to an end.  There is a front moving our way and we'll be back to normal February weather by the weekend with highs in the 50s.  It could be worse!!

I want to thank those of you who have told me they missed my blog.  I have gotten a couple of phone calls as well as emails welcoming me back to the blogging world.  I'm trying!!

Winter Woods

I have had my eye on the Winter Woods stamp set for several months.  I finally broke down and ordered it after learning that it is carrying over from the Holiday Catalog.  (Hoping that means it will be in the new annual catalog in June.) 

This card was pretty simple to make.  I stamped the trees with Soft Suede ink onto the Very Vanilla rectangle (3.5 x 4.25).  Next I ran the stamped piece through the Big Shot using the Woodland embossing folder.  I cut out the snow (free hand) from a piece of Glitter Paper and adhered it to the bottom of the rectangle.  Next I matted the piece onto Soft Suede and wrapped a piece of ribbon around it.  (The ribbon is really old - True Thyme which was an in color way back around 2008 but it matched the piece pretty well!)  The sentiment is a good one - from a Sale-a-Bration set.

This card below also uses the Winter Woods stamp set.  I stamped it onto a piece of Wood Textures Designer Paper (6x6).  I matted the stamped piece with Merry Merlot cardstock and adhered it to the Crumb Cake card.

This card is going to someone special.  I love to listen to Phlash Phelps on Sirrius radio (60's on 6).  Through his show, I have learned about Janine Stange, the National Anthem girl and I joined her "team" to send cards and letters to various military people.  Janine is best known for her historic journey to sing the Star Spangled Banner in all 50 states - a mission she embarked on to honor our brave men and women who embody the song's meaning.  I recently received an email (as part of her team) requesting to send cards and letters to Medal of Honor recipients.  Janine will be attending a luncheon where roughly half of our Medal of Honor recipients will be in attendance.  I made the card below to send to an Army recipient.  If you are interested in learning more about this cause and would like to send a card, check out the details HERE.  The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving the Armed Services.

SAB - Lasting Lily

This beautiful stamp set is one that you can get for FREE!!  It is a Sale-a-Bration set and you can find it on the very last page of the catalog.  The only way you can get this stamp is by placing a $100 order from the Annual Catalog or the Occasions Catalog.  The sentiments in this set are  really nice - from sympathy to well wishes.   Plus there is a "splatter" stamp in the set which I always like to use to add a bit of color to a card.  The Stampin' Up! Lasting Lily stamp set is a Distinktive style stamp set.  That means it uses the special technology patented by Stampin' Up! to make the stamp look like it has been stamped two or three time to create realistic shading.

For this first card I stamped the lily with VersaMark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  Make sure when you use embossing powder that you rub the Embossing Buddy over the cardstock first - especially with black cardstock!!  I colored over the white embossed area with SU Blends - pink and green.  I used the new Stitched Rectangle Framelits for the sentiment.

The beautiful purple lily was stamped with Highland Heather ink.  At the bottom is a small piece of the Gingham Designer Paper and a small scallop piece of cardstock die cut with a die from Be Mine Stitched Framelits.

This last card was stamped with Flirty Flamingo.  The ribbon is retired.  I used the "splatter" stamp on the card with Pool Party ink.  March 1 Stampin' Up! will add additional Sale-a-Bration items.  One of the items are dies to coordinate with the Lasting Lily set.

Humming AwayI

Well, I just watched the Super Bowl.  Ugh - tired of hearing about how wonderful Tom Brady and the Patriots are! And I couldn't believe that Coach Belichick didn't have on his standard hoodie!   I was pulling for the Rams big time but it wasn't meant to be.  I thought they had a chance.  It was a surprisingly low scoring game.   Maybe my Steelers will make it next year to the big game.

I received the Humming Away stamp set at Convention in November (we get a lot of free stuff at convention!)  It is so much fun to color the bird.  I have used markers, Blends, ink with Aqua Pens and watercolor pencils .... and they all work great!  There are dies that match up for this set and you can get both the dies and the stamp set together and save 10%.  I don't have the dies but it's not too hard to fussy cut the humming bird.

The first card below also is a fun fold card.  I used the SU Blends for the humming bird.  The only drawback to using Blends - they bleed through to the back of what you are coloring.  So, I stamped another bird and adhered it to the back. 

For this card, I used watercolor pencils to color the humming bird along with my Aqua Brush to blend the watercolors.  The hibiscus flower is stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I CASE'd the card from Brian King.

 

Stamp Club Cards part 2

I can't believe I will be celebrating 14 years with Stampin' Up in a couple of weeks (Feb. 16).  Seems so long ago that I attended a workshop in Gig Harbor, Washington and signed up a few weeks later.  It was the first time I'd ever heard about Stampin' Up.  What a journey this has been.

Below is another card that we made at Stamp Club last week.  I gave them their choice between this one and the next one.)  I used the Stitched Rectangle Dies on the Lemon Lime rectangle and the white stamped rectangle.  I love these colors together - Lemon Lime Twist, Highland Heather and just a bit of Daffodil Delight.  The stamp set is Incredible Like You, another set we received at convention in November.  There is also a coordinating Project Kit you can purchase (pg 21, Occasions).

For this card, I pulled out a piece of the Gingham Gala 6"x6" DSP.  I love this paper!!  The flower stamped on this card uses the Two-Step Stampin' technique which is my favorite.

This card was a fun one to do and introduced a new technique to my gals.  Using a clear "D" block, I scribbled color from SU Markers (not Blends) on the block, spritzed it with water and stamped my paper with it.  You need to hold it down for a short time to get the inks into the paper.  Every card that you make will be a little bit different.  Next I used the Stampin' Blends to color the cake and adhered a few enamel dots.  I used a spritzer (retired) to spritz Melon Mambo on the card.  Do you notice the stitching around the white card?  Well, this is my favorite thing in the Occasions catalog!  Check out page 28 - the Rectangle Stitched Framelits!  There are 13 in the pack and all different sizes.  Love them!!  The stamp set is on page 28 of the Occasions Catalog, Amazing Life.  You can purchase the stamp set AND the Rectangle Stitched Framelits as a bundle, saving 10% if you bought them separately.

Stamp Club Valentines

I had Stamp Club last week and we made a few Valentines and other cards from stamps that I received at convention.

This first one is from this month's Paper Pumpkin.  This kit had a lot of supplies in it to make a bunch of little Valentine boxes.  I let the gals make as many as they wanted to give to their grandkids & I still have a lot left.  I'll probably be making some alternative projects with the supplies after I make a few boxes.  If you are not familiar with Paper Pumpkin, it is a great kit that you receive each month.  You can stop and restart it at any time with no obligation.

I'm anxiously awaiting the February kit to see what cute projects are in store.  Here is a sneak peek!

We made two Valentine cards at club.  The one below features a new stamp set from the Occasions Catalog, Meant to Be with Lovely Lipstick and Powder Pink card stock.  You can purchase this set and the dies as a bundle which is what I did, saving 10%.  I love the heart dies!!

The Meant to Be stamp set is a Cling Stamp set.  If you experienced some difficulty getting the Stampin' Up! stamps to stick to your clear blocks in the past and you stopped putting labels on them like I did just to help them stick, then you are going to love SU's Cling Mount Stamps.  You can confidently put the image labels on and they will cling perfectly to the clear blocks.  I would definitely recommend you watch this video for tips on putting the labels on and removing the stamp from the clear blocks.

  

This second Valentine also uses the Meant to Be bundle with Powder Pink and Crumb Cake.  I couldn't believe that in all my stash of designer paper, I could not find any with hearts on it and forgot to order the SU DSP!  So, I cheated and picked up a couple of sheets from a big box craft store near me for the card.

Here is a short video highlighting the stamp set and Be Mine dies.

 I'll be back tomorrow to share the remainder of the cards we made.

Volcano National Park

When we were in Hawaii this time, we took a flight over to the big island of Hawaii.  We were interested in seeing the volcano and the destruction left behind from the eruption.  Wow!  I didn't know what to expect but I know I don't ever want to live in an area near a volcano!  For sure, we didn't pack correctly for this part of our trip!  It was cold!!  Luckily we each had a jacket but none of us brought long pants.  Even Sonny was cold and that says it all!  The wind was the worse and blew right through us.  About the day we were leaving, it had gotten a little better and when we drove over to Kona on the other side of the island, it was much better!!

We stayed at the Kilauea Military Camp inside the Volcano National Park.  It was great - pretty rustic but suited our needs!  It was built in 1916 as a training ground for the National Guard and an Army vacation and health recruiting station.  At one time, General Dwight D. Eisenhower stayed here and during WWII, it served as a prisoner-of-war camp!  There was a restaurant with a small bar attached where we watched hula dancers one night and a bowling alley where we bowled one night as well as a fitness center, general store, post office, gas station and a game room where we hung out one night.  It reminded me of my days at Girl Scout camp!

Most of the National Park was open and there were a few park rangers in the Visitor Center whom I'm guessing were working for free with the government shut-down.  We got maps from them and took a few hikes in the areas that were open.  There was no active lava flowing from the volcano when we were there.  We saw a lot of Steam Vents where the ground water has seeped down to the hot volcanic rocks and returns to the surface as steam.  It was really hard to comprehend how huge Kilauea (Volcano) is from our viewing area but the crater is a mile long, 3,000 feet across and the floor is 400 feet below the overlook.

You can see one of the Steam Vents behind us and the volcano.

This is a part of the road that the recent volcano activity tore up.

Looks like dreadlocks, doesn't it?

We hiked out to this beach - all volcanic rocks.  That ocean water is about 8 feet down from where we are!  At one time, it was level with the water.

This used to be a neighborhood.  The lava has poured across the street and past it the lava has build about a 10 foot wall where there used to be houses!  This is where they were evacuating everyone last fall.

Plants are growing in the cracks of the lava!

Love Hawaii!

I have heard from a few of you that welcomed me back to my blog.  I really appreciate knowing that someone out there is reading my ramblings.  You make it worth it!  Feel free to leave a comment.  I actually heard from a good friend that said I should have ended the last blog post on a high note and gave me a couple of suggestions.  What I left out that was the big news for us in November that Ashley was one of only 16 chosen from the Army medical field to receive the 9A Designator recognition.   This designator is the highest recognition of professional excellence in the AMEDD.  It is an honor bestowed upon candidates approved by the Army Surgeon General for professional excellence, who have attained full professional status and have received national prominence in their field.  The candidates must be leaders in their specialty and have significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in a particular field.  They must be a distinct asset to the AMEDD both as an officer as well as a professional specialist and they must have had at least 15 years of professional experience with at least 10 of those years being on active duty in the US Army.  Can I get a hip, hip, hooray!!

In other good news, Ashley applied for a position at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD and found out in early December that she got the job.  She had to interview while in VietNam on some phone app and was a bit nervous about how that would turn out.  She will be leaving Hawaii in June to start her new job as Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs.  So, this was probably our last trip to Hawaii although Ashley wants me to come back and help her get packed up in the spring - we'll see!  I am excited to have her closer to family!

We stayed in Hawaii for a month this time and sure enjoyed ourselves!  Here are a few pictures from our stay. 

Ashley always greets us with a lei!

The Bell Ringer was playing his ukelele and singing Hawaiian Christmas songs!

Ashley's birthday - she and I went to the beach!

Birthday glass (or 2 or 3) of wine!

Ashley with her Dad at a local brewery.

Beautiful sunset!

Beaching it!

Sonny at the Marine golf course!

My crazy life!

Well, it's been a while!  My life has been a whirlwind it seems like since I last posted on Inkie Fingers.  You have probably all given up on me!  Hope not!!

The last time I posted (October!) I mentioned that I was down in the dumps about some personal things going on.  Well that feeling stayed with me for a month or more.  My daughter (Ashley) had joined Stampin' Up in July so that she could go to Stampin' Up's 30th year convention in Florida with me.  We had big plans!  She was going to be in Orlando the week before convention and I made my reservations with that in mind, going a few days early to hang out with her.  Well, in October she got orders to deploy to VietNam for 8 weeks, leaving a week before convention.  I couldn't change my reservations so I just went and chilled for the extra days by myself!  My sister joined me a couple of days later and we enjoyed ourselves at convention.  We were able to talk to Ashley via an app of my phone so that made things a little better.  Convention was fun and we got to see some of the new items from the Occasions Catalog and Sale-a-Bration.  I came home with several new stamp sets but would you believe, I still haven't used them!  I used one new set yesterday but that's it!  

In November, I had the family for Thanksgiving as I have done for 12 years now.  It was nice but we all were missing Ashley.  We were able to all talk to her via the app.  She and another soldier prepared the Thanksgiving meal for the group - about 35 people.  It was a challenge since there was no oven, just a large toaster oven and several burners to cook green beans, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushrooms .....  They deep fried the turkey.  Her mission was to recover a soldier who had been killed during the VietNam war.  Unfortunately, they never recovered any remains before returning home in December.  But that was a story in itself!  When they left VietNam, they had problems with the airplane and had to land on Wake Island in the Pacific.  There is very little civilization on Wake except for a small military base where they stayed for 3-4 days before they could get another plane to pick them up and return to Hawaii.  She was more than ready to come home!  Luckily she got home before we arrived for Christmas (by about 5 days!)

 After Convention and Thanksgiving was over, I gave a wedding shower for my nephew's (Derek) fiance.  Ashley again was supposed to help with the shower as well as be there for it, but .... things don't always work our, do they?!  But, the show must go on.  We had a nice time and I think Morgan enjoyed it as well.  Sonny made a giant Jenga game for them and we played it at the shower.

In December, we flew to Hawaii and spent a month enjoying ourselves.  We just returned home this past Tuesday and I brought a cold home with me.  I feel better today but I was sounding pretty bad Wednesday and Thursday!  I will share Hawaii pictures in my next post.